Fishing with Derek

A couple of months ago one of my good friends talked to me
about taking his grandson out fishing when he came to visit
this summer. He had been out one time during each of the two
past summers. His grand total for that time was one fish. Les
wanted him to have a chance to catch more fish that that. Since
they are on my "fish route," they thought I might be able to
help him catch a few more fish.

We checked our schedule and Sunday the 15th of July seemed
to be the time that worked out. By the time that we did all
the other things that needed to be done that day it was about
5:30 pm before I could go over and pick him up. That also
meant that the heat of the day would start to disappear.

We headed out to one of my favorite ponds. I was sure that I
could find fish in this pond. I have taken several folks to
this pond and some of the folks on this board will recognize
the pictures. I got the canoe loaded and down to the water. I
had a spinning rod for him to use. I felt it would be easier
for him to use, and maybe safer for me.

We got in the canoe and started drifting along the face of the
dam. Derek could get about 15 to 20 feet of line out on his
casts. This was plenty of line to get into the fish if there
were any interested.

We had only been fishing for a few minutes when Derek got his
first fish. You can see this bass in the photograph. There was
no way that I would make him put this fish back into the pond.
So we put his fish in the basket and he went back to casting.

We moved around the pond and picked some fish up here and there.
The water was filled with filamentous algae. Not the easiest of
times to be fishing it, but it helps to know the places where
fish tend to hang out. We did get to see several deer come down
to the pond to get a drink. Derek also saw several bullfrogs
around the edge of the pond.

When we got over by the stumps I knew we could be in for some
fun. I had him cast up near the stumps and retrieve the twister
tail very slowly. He caught three huge bluegill in this spot.
I tried pictures, but messed up something with the camera and
they did not turn out.

We worked on down the far bank. We would pick up a fish here
and there. We did better when we went farther out and cast
towards the center of the pond. There seemed to be individual
fish swimming over this whole area looking for food. I was
using a red/yellow boa yarn leech. It seemed to be bright
enough to show up. I spent more time watching Derek. It was
so much fun to see his face split in a grin when he hooked a fish.

The first time I looked at my watch it was 7:30 pm. I thought
it was a good idea to head home so that he could get back at
a decent hour. He went with me to watch me clean the fish. I
tried to get him to hold these two bass for a picture. That
was a no go. Hopefully the next time we go out. We have a date
for next year.

Here are the two bass he caught and one of the bluegill also.
We ended up with 24 fish for the time that we were out. I did
throw back about a dozen bass. I am not sure which one of the
boys had more fun, but Derek is in second place.